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Rain Washes Away Farmers' Chance For Vital Crops

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Jul 24, 2009 5:17 pm US/Eastern

Rain Washes Away Farmers' Chance For Vital Crops

Reporting
Ron Sanders

BRIDGEWATER (WBZ) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Farms in New England are struggling to produce vital crops amid one of the rainiest summers on record.
WBZ

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Massachusetts farmers were hoping for a warm and sunny July to rescue them from the relentless rains of June. Now, they're planting seeds of hope for August and beyond.

Wet, cool weather has washed away vital nutrients for crops. Ron Sanders talked to a longtime farmer who says he's "never seen it like this."

Cows lying in the field, which they're known to do when it rains, is a familiar sight at Hanson Farm in Bridgewater.

"Definitely the worst I've seen," says Bob Hanson, whose family has had their farm since the Great Depression. He says his father used to talk about the years without summer.

Hanson showed us how this rainy summer has turned some of his potato plants yellow, not to mention what it does to the potatoes.

"There's a good example right there. That's useless."

"Is that rot?" Sanders asked.

"Yes. That's rot."

We squeezed water out of another potato. And then there are potato bugs, which crop up after rain washes away insecticide. It also washes away fertilizer in for the corn plants, making them pale and slowing their growth.

"They're way, way, way behind," says Hanson. The state's Agricultural Resources Commissioner says Massachusetts-grown produce is about 2 to 3 weeks behind.

"We've had 3 or 4 different stands calling us and asking what we've got available, and we've had nothing," explains Hanson. "We'll have fall watermelon. No summer watermelons this year...A lot of stuff doesn't have taste and the keeping ability may not be there."

Some of Hanson's friends ask him, 'Aren't you glad you don't have to use irrigation?' He says when it's hot, sunny and dry, he can turn on the irrigation; when it's raining, he can't shut it off. Hanson, like other Massachusetts farmers, is hoping for a warm, sunny August to help save his growing season. Retailers and state officials say, so far, local produce prices are stable but yield is down.